Prabowo Stunned by 1,074 State-Owned Enterprises, Threatens to Investigate Past Directors

President Prabowo Subianto has urged state-owned enterprises (BUMN) to carry out their mandate properly. Their role as an extension of the state, entrusted by the government, should benefit the wider public.

However, he admitted to being baffled by a number of state-owned companies that have been irresponsible in carrying out their functions.

“These BUMN sometimes work arbitrarily. They are not accountable to the nation or the state. The government is disregarded. I do not understand how this could happen,” he said in his speech at the Annual Session of the MPR and the Joint Session of the DPR-DPD, today, Friday (14/8/2026).

Prabowo said he was surprised by the large number of state-owned companies, which exceeds one thousand. “I thought there were 300 or 400 BUMN. There are 1,074 BUMN companies,” he noted.

Prabowo further revealed that the thousands of BUMN companies also consist of subsidiaries and sub-subsidiaries. He therefore intends to investigate a number of management officials who have led the companies for up to the past 30 years.

“We will investigate the directors and management going back 30 years, perhaps,” he added.

Nevertheless, Prabowo said he would also provide an opportunity for a kind of special amnesty for those who admit their mistakes and commit not to repeat them.

“Well, I leave this to the people’s representatives to decide,” he said.

“If I report them all, I fear our people will be angry with all of them,” he stated.

He admitted that too many BUMN are unproductive and record financial reports that continue to show losses.

“They keep losing money but their reports say they are making a profit. The profit is simply made up. We are in trouble because many foreign companies also cooperate with our BUMN. So we must eliminate this, these games,” he concluded.